Voters in Old Orchard Beach have overwhelmingly approved a rent control measure for mobile home owners.
The referendum was written by residents who tried unsuccessfully to purchase their parks for more than $40 million this past spring.
The referendum caps annual lot rent increases for residents at 5%, with some exceptions. The measure also details a process for residents to dispute proposed rent increases through a town arbitrator.
Real estate investment company Follett USA, which bought Old Orchard Village and Atlantic Village in August, campaigned against the measure. The company registered with the Maine Ethics Commission as "the Committee to Protect Old Orchard Beach Affordable Housing." Reports show more than $17,700 was spent on the opposition campaign.
And it argued that the rent controls would be too expensive to implement. The measure suggests that residents would have to pay administrative fees to cover the costs, which Follett described as a "tax" on affordable housing in signage placed around town.
Atlantic Village resident Linda Cole said she and her neighbors wanted more protections against drastic rent increases under a new park owner.
And she said they offered a simple message to voters: "That we have lived here for a while. There's a lot of senior citizens who live here on fixed incomes. And that a large corporation had bought the park for a very large amount of money. And we were afraid that they were going to, because of their history, kind of price us right out of our own homes."
Housing advocates in Maine say they may pursue additional protections for mobile home residents next year, which could including local or statewide rent control measures or more tools to help residents purchase their parks.
So far, only the residents of the Linnhaven Mobile Home Center in Brunswick have successfully formed a cooperative and purchased their park under a relatively new Maine "opportunity to purchase" law.
